The Vermont State Police is investigating an officer-involved shooting that occurred late Monday, Aug. 15, in the town of Ludlow by a member of the Ludlow Police Department.
The Ludlow shooting follows a shooting by Burlington police of a 20-year-old man Saturday afternoon. After charging Burlington police with a knife, David Johnson received non-life-threatening gunshot wounds for which he was treated at the hospital.
The Ludlow shooting occurred at about 9:30 p.m. Monday on South Hill Road. An adult man was struck by gunfire and sustained life-threatening injuries. The subject was brought by ambulance to Springfield Hospital and is expected to be airlifted to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire.
The Vermont State Police is leading the investigation into the police shooting, as is standard practice in Vermont.
The investigation is in its preliminary stages. Detectives with the Vermont State Police Major Crime Unit, joined by members of the Crime Scene Search Team, Field Force Division, and Victim Services Unit, are responding to the scene and working on the case. The Ludlow Police Department is providing assistance.
No additional information is currently available. VSP will provide updates throughout the investigation.
Ludlow, in Windsor County, is home to Okemo Ski Area. According to the town website, the Ludlow Police Department has five non-dispatch police officers: Police Chief Jeffrey P. Billings, and officers Ryan Palmer, Jeffrey Warfle, Catherine Warner, and recent Vermont Police Academy graduate Zachary Paul.
Categories: Police Reports
Every time I hear about a cop having to shoot a person it make me feel sad, for the person who got shot, their family, and the cop who was put into the situation where he, or she felt that was the only alternative. Crime, and mental health issues are like cancer. You can’t just diagnose it, and without treatment, expect it to go away. It is also not helpful to blame it on something, or somebody else. Back in the day you used to be fairly safe in the assumption that the poor soul doing something weird on the streets of Montpelier was probably a legislator, and would be gone in a few weeks/months, that is not the case anymore. That person is quite possibly a drug addict, or a mental health patient that is homeless, off their meds, and is living there “under the radar”. Aggressive panhandling that makes citizens uncomfortable should be deterred. By allowing this, municipalities are turning a blind eye to the anti-social behaviors that are the root causes of the problem. Criminals, also need to be addressed. Their activities are not socially acceptable, and should not be blamed on anybody or anything else beyond the criminal. There are people that are just bad people. Give them the opportunity, and they will prove it, time after time, after time ! Their actions deserve an opposite, and equal reaction. Saying “bad boy” (or girl) and telling them “don’t do that again” may work for a beagle, but a criminal does not have that innate, underling urge to please society that a dog has for it’s master. Criminals need consequences that makes them think before they act about their actions. Blaming society, the gun, the F150, the booze, their parents, or the drugs does NOTHING to hold the criminal accountable for their actions. The criminal made that decision. If that means we need to build more prisons, then so be it. Yes, our criminal justice needs to be “reformed”, but that does not mean installing a turn style in prison doors, that is not working, it deserves quite the opposite in my opinion. Law abiding citizens deserve to be safe in their homes, and on the streets that they pay taxes to enjoy. If the carrot is not working…….
It’s Vermont State Police ARE, not is! Police are. Policeman is.